Mash together the growing craze for chip-embedded "wearables" wth the rising national concern over sports concussions, and the field is wide open for Kirkland-based i1Biometrics, inventor of the Vector MouthGuard. The product gives head impact evaluations in real time, plus long-term tracking. The main initial market is high school football teams.

​Educators and business leaders need each other if Washington state's education system is to become a competitive advantage for the region in the 21st century. That was the message at the Business Journal's Jan. 27 education roundtable discussion at the Seattle Harbor Club. Panelists' views are presented below, and throughout this section.

Those pushing to upgrade Washington state's education system keep fighting the same battle. Business leaders have complained for decades that schools haven't caught up with an economy that's shifting from hardwood to software.

​Power plants the size of shipping containers — that's the "revolution" being devised at SuperCritical Technologies, founded by veterans of Intellectual Ventures, business school and government labs. The company is developing a PowerCube to convert industrial waste or other types of heat into electricity right where where it's needed.

​Even if you're not in the market for $66-a-month deliveries of "enhanced water," you might want to watch to this company because of who runs it. Reliant Beverage Co.'s CEO and major investor is Eric Russell, former president of Russell Investments and the great-grandson of company founder Frank Russell. Reliant grew out of another health-oriented company that Eric Russell founded, Revalesio Corp. Reliant's pitch is that drinking its water helps your muscles recover from exercise. This happens through the cellular action of extremely small "nanobubbles" created by mixing the water with oxygen and subjecting it to tremendous turbulence and friction. The company cites outside research showing clinical benefits from this "electrokinetically modified water." The beverage is said to lose its therapeutic effects unless kept refrigerated, so Reliant delivers the bottles cold. The answers here are from Reliant President Bill Germano, who arrived in December from snack maker Kettle Foods and is the former CEO of Portland-based Thomas Kemper Soda.

​WISErg picks up food scraps from grocers and converts them into organic liquid fertilizer. WISErg, which considers itself a tech company, invented an onsite storage tank for grocers — called the Harvester — that's loaded with sensors and computers to weigh the scraps, capture images and schedule pickups. WISErg's ambition is to turn the world's unwanted food into a nutrient-rich resource – not waste.